Evidence for transporter-mediated uptake of environmental L-glutamate in a freshwater sponge, Ephydatia muelleri.

The freshwater sponge, Ephydatia muelleri, lacks a nervous or endocrine system and yet it exhibits a coordinated whole-body action known as a "sneeze" that can be triggered by exposure to L-glutamate. It is not known how L-glutamate is obtained by E. muelleri in sufficient quantities (i.

The genome of the reef-building glass sponge provides insights into silica biomineralization.

Well-annotated and contiguous genomes are an indispensable resource for understanding the evolution, development, and metabolic capacities of organisms. Sponges, an ecologically important non-bilaterian group of primarily filter-feeding sessile aquatic organisms, are underrepresented with respect to available genomic resources. Here we provide a high-quality and well-annotated genome of , a glass sponge (Porifera: Hexactinellida) that forms large reef structures off the coast of British Columbia (Canada).

The compact genome of the sponge Oopsacas minuta (Hexactinellida) is lacking key metazoan core genes.

Background: Explaining the emergence of the hallmarks of bilaterians is a central focus of evolutionary developmental biology-evodevo-and evolutionary genomics. For this purpose, we must both expand and also refine our knowledge of non-bilaterian genomes, especially by studying early branching animals, in particular those in the metazoan phylum Porifera.

Results: We present a comprehensive analysis of the first whole genome of a glass sponge, Oopsacas minuta, a member of the Hexactinellida.

Molecular machineries of ciliogenesis, cell survival, and vasculogenesis are differentially expressed during regeneration in explants of the demosponge Halichondria panicea.

Sponges are interesting animal models for regeneration studies, since even from dissociated cells, they are able to regenerate completely. In particular, explants are model systems that can be applied to many sponge species, since small fragments of sponges can regenerate all elements of the adult, including the oscula and the ability to pump water. The morphological aspects of regeneration in sponges are relatively well known, but the molecular machinery is only now starting to be elucidated for some sponge species.